


The Green Room

by Remembertherandler



Category: Rhett & Link
Genre: 4+1 fic, First Time, Friends to Lovers, Groping, Kissing, M/M, Mutual Pining, Pining, tropetastictuesday, tropetastictuesday7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-21
Updated: 2017-04-21
Packaged: 2018-10-22 07:55:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10692849
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Remembertherandler/pseuds/Remembertherandler
Summary: In the green room, before and after an appearance, you can calm your nerves and decompress. But when the tension nearly brings you to your breaking point, the green room may as well be painted fire engine red.





	The Green Room

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> This is a gift for the lovely and talented [@thegreyhenley](http://www.thegreyhenley.tumblr.com). She's kickass and this is a MUCH-BELATED birthday gift <3
> 
> **Recommended Listening:**  
> Now We See - The Winter Gypsy

“We did it, man.” Link flopped down onto the sofa. “We freakin’ _did_ it!” he smiled as he rubbed his hands together over his head.

Rhett was slow to close the door as the others left, heading down the hall. They’d shared a celebratory glass of champagne with their co-hosts after having finished their first day of filming for Online Nation.

“We’re in L.A.” Link let his head fall back.

Rhett crossed the room and sat in the chair next to the sofa.

“We’re hosting a show on freakin’ network television!” His smile couldn’t be contained, but Rhett’s brows were knit and his hands were clenched together on his lap.

“What’s the matter, bo?” Link asked, leaning forward to rub Rhett’s knee. “This is the big time.”

Rhett felt the skin under his jeans warm where Link’s hand lay.

“We did this together, man!” Link squeezed.

Rhett’s heart stuttered in his chest, and his palms began to sweat. All of this was more than he’d ever dreamed when they’d smeared their blood on those pages in a pasture all those years ago. He smiled, but bit back the words he wished he had the courage to say and instead, looked up to meet Link’s smiling eyes and nodded.

~~~ * ~~~

Rhett bounced on the balls of his feet, breathing out slowly through pursed lips.

Link smiled at him from the chair in the corner of the room. “Calm down, man… you’re making me nervous.”

“I can’t, Link!” Rhett ran his hand through his hair. “We’re about to put ourselves out there… this is George Lopez!”

Link stood and straightened the tails of his shit. “I know… but they asked us to be here for a reason,” he smirked, resting his hand on Rhett’s shoulder.

Rhett rolled his eyes. “So there’s no reason you should sweating, huh?” Rhett said, his eyes darting to Link’s hairline.

Link pushed his hair back from his brow, wiping it with the sleeve of his shirt.

“Mmm… s’what I thought,” Rhett winked before turning to the water cooler, filling a cone-shaped cup and downing it.

“Alright…” Link unbuttoned the sleeves of his shirt and rolled them up his arms. “Fine.” He followed Rhett, leaning back against the edge of the vanity. “I’m nervous… happy?” he sighed, looking up at Rhett from beneath a raised brow.

“Nerves are good though, right?” Rhett turned to him. “They keep you honest,” he smiled, the first signs of crow’s feet wrinkling the skin around his eyes.

A lump formed in the back of Link’s throat, stifling his voice. Rhett’s curled lips and bright, warm eyes sent Link’s mind racing along with his heart. This feeling, however familiar it had become, was as shocking as it had been the moment it had washed over him the first time many years before.

On that day, when they were only thirteen, the sun hung low in the sky over the river. Their hands were wrapped together as Rhett hauled Link up onto the high rocks of the riverbank. They’d tripped, fallen backward, Link toppling onto Rhett. They were chest to chest, and when their eyes locked, Link knew.

Link’s fingertips began to tingle, his lungs tight in his chest.

“You okay?” Rhett cupped Link’s shoulder, brows raised in concern.

“Yeah…” Link smiled weakly, adjusting his glasses and tipping his head to the side. “I just… I lo—”

“Two minute warning, gentlemen!” one of the producers called before issuing a sharp knock.

Rhett’s hand slid down Link’s arm as he turned to the door, Link taking the momentary lapse in eye contact as an opportunity to shake his clouded head.

“Thanks!” Rhett turned back to him. ”Sorry. What were you sayin’?” Rhett asked, scratching his chin.

“Nothing,” Link smiled. “It was nothing.”

~~~ * ~~~

“Dude! That was incredible!” Link walked backwards into the green room, smiling wider than he ever had. “We were just on freakin’ Conan, man!” Link punched Rhett softly on the shoulder.

“I’m so keyed up!” Rhett pulled off his jacket and threw it into the chair next to the door. “We met Lisa freakin’ Kudrow!” The steel door closed behind them.

Link grabbed the bottle of champagne from the bucket of ice and peeled the metal free of the cork. He wedged his thumb, preparing to pop the bottle and celebrate.

Rhett bent down to pick up the glasses from the coffee table when his back screamed out in complaint. He winced and groaned, tipping over onto the couch. “Unfff,” he winced, his hand clapped to his lower back.

“Oh shi—” Link jammed the bottle back into the ice and rushed to Rhett’s side. “Are you okay?” He grabbed Rhett’s arm and kneeled on the floor next to the couch.

”Yeah.” Rhett’s features were contorted, his nose scrunched, one eye squinted closed as he drew in a sharp breath and answered. “I’m fine.”

“Dang, man.” Link’s hand closed around Rhett’s upper arm. “I’d almost forgotten about your back…” he said, looking over Rhett and helping him to lay out as much as was possible on the entirely too small couch.

Rhett watched as Link took a pillow and placed it under his knees, relieving some of the pressure on his strained back.

Link fussed, crawling to the chair and snatching Rhett’s jacket that he folded and tucked behind Rhett’s head.

With Link hovering over him adjusting the makeshift pillow, Rhett could see the concern in his eyes, the worry and care. He could feel the heat of Link’s skin so close to his own, could smell the hint of aftershave that lingered on it. “Link?”

“Yeah?” Link answered, giving the jacket a final prod and looking down at Rhett.

“I love you.” The affectionate words had fallen from Rhett’s lips before he could even attempt to hold them back. It wasn’t like he’d never said it before, or that he’d never heard Link say the same. Of course they loved each other. But something in the way his tongue curled around the words, the way they warmed the air, made them different this time. As though it were the first time they’d been said or heard.

Link sat silently, his eyes a little wider than they’d been a moment before. His gaze shifted, his focus now solidly on the ring that encircled his finger. “I… Rhett…” Link stammered, his voice barely audible as his skin flushed.

Rhett reached out and tipped Link’s chin with a curled finger. “It’s okay… I know.”

~~~ * ~~~

“Rhett… this is the Tonight Show.”

“I know, man.”

“The fucking _Tonight Show _, Tonight Show!” Link adjusted his tie, talking to Rhett’s reflection in the mirror.__

____

____

“I know!” Rhett rushed up and grabbed Link by the shoulders, smiling at him in the mirror. “I know, man!”

Link shook his head and looked down at the cuffs of his shirt, adjusting the buttons. “This is wild.”

Rhett smoothed the shoulders of Link’s jacket. “You look great, man.”

Link looked up to see Rhett beaming at him, his soft eyes traveling the length of his body in the mirror. Link’s cheeks warmed and his pulse quickened. “Thanks, Rhett,” he managed as he tugged gently at the lapels of his jacket and spun around. “You look pretty good yourself.”

“I try,” Rhett winked, straightening his own tie and and dropping his shoulders.

Link smiled as he admired his best friend, finely suited and cocksure. He was certain Rhett wasn’t immune to the same nervous energy that nipped at his own fingers and toes, but he’d managed to harness it somehow. He was settled and seemingly calm. Confident.

Rhett’s cheeks smoothed as his amusement seemed to shift to concern. “Something wrong?” he asked. “Do I have something in my beard?” Rhett ran his hand over his chin.

“No.” Link let out a small laugh before reaching up to straighten Rhett’s pocket square. “Nothin’ in your precious beard.” Link smoothed his hand over Rhett’s chest, feeling the pounding behind it, his nerves manifest in the uncontrollable rhythm of his heart.

Rhett swallowed thickly as Link’s fingers picked at a small imperfection in the smooth wool of his suit jacket. Just as Link’s hand began to fall away, Rhett captured his wrist.

Link’s shoulders stiffened, his throat tight, and jaw tighter.

Rhett stepped closer, his other hand closing around Link’s waist.

There was no space between them, not with Rhett’s body pressed to Link’s, his nose resting in Link’s hair, his warm breath sending shivers down Link’s spine.

Rhett’s grip on his waist tightened. “Link…” he breathed into dark hair, releasing Link’s wrist.

Link squinted away the desire that urged him to do what he knew he could not.

Rhett’s free hand wove into the soft hair at the nape of Link’s neck, as his lips drifted to Link’s ear. “I love you.”

Link leaned into the touch, into the words that were still warm against his skin. His scalp tingled like he’d touched a live wire. His chest expanded in sharp, shallow attempts at breathing. “Rhett…” he whispered.

Rhett pulled back enough for their eyes to meet.

Link’s eyes darted between hooded ones, their bright irises darkened by blown pupils. He’d never had occasion to see such desire in the eyes of his best friend and the sensation of his own want ricocheted around inside of him like a stray bullet.

Rhett’s nose brushed against Link’s as his eyes fluttered closed.

“Rhett… I can’t.”

~~~ * ~~~

Rhett hunched slightly as he followed Link toward the green room, the low ceilings necessitating his stooped posture.

The chatter of the audience carried down the corridor from the sound stage. The Roots were tuning instruments and a few gaffers passed them on their way to finish setting up for the musical guest. There was a note on the door from Stevie.

Link peeled off the post-it note and smiled as he read it before folding it and stuffing it in his pocket. He stepped to the side of the door and turned to Rhett. “After you,” he winked.

Rhett sighed, one of his cheeks balling up around a half-hearted smile. He turned the knob and entered the room.

Link followed and closed the door behind them. “That was great!” His excited energy radiated from him. “I can’t believe we’re here… again!” He pulled off his jacket and hung it on the hook on the back of the door. “You were great, man,” Link said sweetly as he unbuttoned the cuffs of his shirt and wiggled loose his tie. “ _We_ were great!”

Rhett was silent, resting forward on curled knuckles facing the vanity mirror, his head hanging.

Link rolled his eyes. “You’re choosing now to shut that trap of yours?” Link spun around to see Rhett’s hunched over the vanity. “Rhett?” He took a stuttered step closer. “Is everything okay?” He reached out, but Rhett turned abruptly and shook his head.

“No, Link… It’s not.”

Link’s forehead creased in concern. “Rhett… whatever it is… it’ll—”

“Just shut up, Link!” Rhett surged forward, backing Link into the door.

Link’s mouth hung open a moment before he swallowed back any protestation, tipping his chin to meet Rhett’s eyes.

Rhett placed his palms on the door on either side of Link’s face. “Shut up.” He brought his mouth in line with Link’s, tantalizingly close.

“Make me,” Link breathed, pressing forward, groaning against Rhett’s lips, his hands clasping at Rhett’s jacket.

Rhett pushed closer still, the length of him pinning Link in place. His fingers knotted into soft hair as his tongue pressed against even softer lips that parted and allowed him in.

Their bodies rocked together, hands roaming, teeth clashing. The kiss was hungry and insistent, long denied, but no longer willing to be ignored. Their bodies fit together like a dove-tailed joint, incomplete until slotted together. They were one like this, whole and complete.

Link groped and pulled, driving himself against Rhett’s thigh. He palmed Rhett through his pants and broke from their kiss in breathless wonder at the feeling of Rhett throb against his palm. His head lolled against the door, jaw hanging slack.

Rhett moaned as Link’s grip on him tightened. He leaned forward and growled against the skin of Link’s neck as a rutted into his hand. His teeth grazed tight tendons and pulsing veins. “Oh God, Link…” he breathed kissing along the underside of Link’s jaw and nudging apart his feet.

“Fuc… Rhett!” Link moaned as Rhett’s large hand cupped his stiffened flesh. He welcomed the barrier of clothing; without it the touch would have sent him tumbling over the edge in an instant. “Please,” he panted, nudging Rhett’s mouth back to his own.

They gasped and groaned as their hips rolled, their lips parting from one another’s skin only out of the necessity for oxygen. They whispered their love into half open mouths, against the flesh of throats, and the shells of ears.

Link’s nails dragged across the back of Rhett’s neck as he rose up onto the tips of toes. “Rhett… I can’t… I’m…” his voice shuddered out between trembling lips, his hair falling across his forehead, his bright eyes peeking out between dark strands.

Rhett grinned, cupping Link’s face in his hand. “Me too.” He closed his lips over Link’s and thrust into his hand.

Link buried his face in floral fabric of Rhett’s shirt and cried out.

They toppled together, coming undone in each other’s arms, the door supporting their slack weight as the aftershocks left their tingling limbs weak and weary. Rhett’s forehead rested against the door, and Link’s in the dip of Rhett’s shoulder.

Rhett steadied himself, brushing the hair from Link’s eyes. “I love you, Link.” He pressed a small kiss to the tip of Link’s nose. “I always have.”

“So have I.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading my first attempt at a 4+1 fic! I hope you enjoyed it and I appreciate any and all feedback a great deal! 
> 
> RTR <3


End file.
